Ugandan online editor arrested for publishing op-eds

New York, June 1, 2011--The Kampala Magistrate
Court released online editor Timothy Kalyegira on bail today after the court
remanded him on Tuesday to Luzira prison in the capital, Kampala. He is
expected to return to court on June 30.

The court charged the editor of The Uganda Recordwith criminal libel against
President Yoweri Museveni over two articles published in July last year,
according to local journalists. The two opinion articles printed on July 12 and 16 speculated whether the Ugandan
government was involved in the July 11, 2010 bomb attacks in Kampala, defense lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi
said.

The articles speculated that the Ugandan
government might have instigated the bomb blasts instead of the Somali
insurgents, Al-Shabaab, even though Al-Shabaab has claimed
responsibility for the attacks that left an estimated 78 people dead. The
terrorist group said they staged the bombing in retribution for Uganda's
participation in African Union peacekeeping forces.

Kalyegira had gone to the Kira Road Police
Station on Tuesday to request the release of his passport that was in their
custody, he told CPJ. Upon arriving at the station, the police cancelled
Kalyegira's police bond and took him to court.

"There is no reason to revive new charges
against the online editor of The Uganda Record other than to intimidate the
country's critical press," said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. "These
new charges of criminal libel are not applicable and should be dropped
immediately."

Police in the Media Offenses Department originally raided Kalyegira's office in
August 2010, confiscated his passport, and charged the online editor
with sedition. The sedition charges became null and void later in the month,
however, after the Uganda Constitutional Court declared criminal sedition unconstitutional,
according to local journalists. Kalyegira has periodically reported to the
police station since the August arrest, he said.

Journalist Bernard
Tabaire is currently legally challenging the concept of criminal libel charges
in Uganda, the independent Daily Monitor
reported. For the Kalyegira case, his lawyer is arguing that the
editor shouldn't be subject to criminal libel charges as the Ugandan legal
system has no jurisdiction over online publications. In Uganda, to find someone guilty of libel one needs to cite
a place where the alleged crime has been committed and in that sense, the Web
is not a particular place.

Criminal libel and, previously, sedition charges have been
routinely used to silence Uganda's critical press. At least 13 journalists have
faced criminal libel charges in the past five years, according to CPJ research.
In the majority of these cases, the journalists were acquitted.